The RCMP received 445 calls to service in Gibsons from July 1 to Sept. 30 this year.
The most frequent callouts were for suspicious person/vehicle/occurrence, which had 42 reports, followed by 40 mental health flags and 35 check well-being calls.
There were 11 assaults this quarter and 16 cases of mischief to property.
The report was presented by Staff Sgt. Jennifer Prunty, said suspicious person calls are “a bit of a catch-all for any kind of activity that people just would like the police to come and check out, not necessarily criminal in nature.”
She explained the report had no comparables to previous years because the RCMP realized they had been including areas of Elphinstone within their statistics.
Prunty said she was happy to report the RCMP is now fully staffed.
“Our last transfer was announced just this week. So we've got a few new members that have joined us, two are cadets coming out of depo, so newly graduated RCMP constables,” Prunty said. And then we have Cst. Jake Jake Tjorham, who's come from Richmond with quite a bit of experience behind him and an extensive resume in property crime specifically, so we're really happy to have him join our team.”
A multi-agency response took place at a residence on Gower Point Road where an accumulation of property and debris on the roadway caused concern from the public as viability was limited on the road. SCRD bylaw personnel, RCMP and the Ministry of Transportation collaborated and resolved the issue and the report noted numerous dump truck loads of refuse were removed.
Speaking to bike theft, the RCMP has partnered with 529 Garage, providing information on bike registration and creating an online repository that RCMP have access to.
“If we're recovering bikes, we're able to match the owners to the bikes, and [owners] can also share information with each other there as well,” said Prunty.
As fraud continues to be a pervasive issue on the Coast, RCMP has partnered with TD Canada Trust to provide monthly fraud presentations to various community organizations, which the report says have been well received.
The RCMP media relations personnel also plan to introduce a biweekly incident report to the community.
Lastly, Prunty said the RCMP are trying to have the highway patrol come over every month to do “proactive enforcement. " She noted that their vehicles are equipped with automated licence plate readers, which will register if any vehicles are not insured or if a prohibited driver is attached to that vehicle.
Coun. David Croal jokingly asked Prunty if she has been evaluating Murder in a Small Town, which was recently filmed in Gibsons.
Responding that she has been watching the show, Prunty said, “What a great opportunity to showcase the area, photography is outstanding, but yes, I do kind of laugh at the difference between myself and their chief.”
Croal also said 529 Garage is a great program, and encouraged the Student on Council to promote it at high schools.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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